al resting-place for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot
consecrate--we cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living
and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our
power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long
remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth.--_Address at Gettysburg_, ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

From an address delivered in the Auditorium, at Chicago, on the
afternoon of February 22, 1902, on the occasion of the celebration of
Washington's Birthday.

The meaning of Washington in American history is discipline. The
message of Washington's life to the American people is discipline.
The need of American character is discipline.

Washington did not give patriotism to the American colonies. The
people had that as abundantly as he. He did not give them courage.
That quality was and is in the American blood. He did not even give
them resource. There were intellects more productive than his. But
Washington gave balance and direction to elemental forces. He was
the genius of order. He was poise personified. He was the spirit of
discipline. He was the first Great Conservative. It was this
quality in him that made all other elements of the Revolution
effective. It was this that organized our nebulous independence
into a nation of liberty. The parts of a machine are useless until
assembled and fitted each to its appropriate place. Washington was
the master mechanic of our nation; so it is that we are a people.

But we are not yet a perfect people. We are still in the making. It
is a glorious